Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye

3 reviews

hollyk's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So so so good!!
This book is dark, like, really dark. But it's about child soldiers conscripted into an army, so that tracks. I feel like a lot of fantasy series have a similar aspect of teenagers in military, but Sloane actively pushes back against that, where a lot of other protagonists are relatively complacent. I also see some similarities to The Blood Trials in this one, but Blood Scion focuses more on the ancestry and oppression of Yorubas and Scions, whereas The Blood Trials is more sci-fi and political. Sloane is young, and it shows at times, but that's understandable--she's a child forced into conscription. She's not going to be the most successful recruit, and that makes her easy to root for. She's tough, smart, and keeps ahold of her humanity when the military leaders try to break her. There are so many twists and turns, and I didn't see the ending coming. The only questionable thing is (MASSIVE SPOILER)

the slight romantic involvement with Dane at the end. He's 18, she's 15 and a subordinate. He turns out to be a backstabber, so this adds to his nastiness, but I was not a fan of the age gap here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, War, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Murder, Sexual violence, Gore, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Vomit, and Animal death

hapennybooks's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Colonisation, War, Violence, Torture, Child abuse, Genocide, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual violence, Slavery, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Adult/minor relationship

samjdoe's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence